13 MAY 1871, Page 2

The Archbishop of York made a bold speech, remarking that

if the most elaborate tests had not prevented infidelity from spreading widely in Oxford, the fragment of a test now proposed could hardly be expected to do so. Tests are not responsible for the results of the searching and bewildering investigations now so often pursued into the methods of knowledge, and are not capable of curing them. No teat stopped Mr. Voysey, and those whom tests do stop would often be the least dangerous. The Arch- bishop thought we had outgrown them altogether, and should rely for our safeguards on the positive strength of the convictions of Christians, not in these worn-out and formal expedients.